Oh Tales of theSouth Pacific, James Michener, 1948 Winner, how I deplor you! The book was tough going for me as it was filled with description after description of war planes and war this and war that.It took me a while to get into the characters as well, but once I did that helped a bit. The style reminded me a bit of Olive Kietteridge based on the fact that it was somewhat a collection of short stories with the same characters woven throughout. (Hence Tales....) At some point in the reading I realized this was the basis for the musical that my high school put on WAY back in 1981. I remembered bits and pieces here and there.Not my favorite read but it's finished and on the shelf.